The Grand Tour
The approach to the house is via a private front garden, with spectacular clipped topiary hedging. The house’s 18th-century vernacular origins are evident, with its clean, classical design and long, low-build. Through an original timber door, one enters the main entrance hallway; finished in a neutral palette throughout, the house is painted a clean shade of white and the ground floor is laid with large format porcelain slabs.
To the left of the hall is an expansive open-plan kitchen and breakfast room. Lit by dual aspect patio doors to the garden, and a curved sash window to the front, the space has an exceptional quality of natural light. The dining area is arranged around an original fireplace, while a large, custom built, culinary grade stainless steel kitchen and island occupying the rear of the space. With built in Bosch ovens and coffee machine, the kitchen has sleek powder coated stainless steel cabinetry and a crisp marble worktop.
Leading on from the kitchen and behind the entrance hall, there is a useful utility and guest WC. From here, there is easy access to the formal dining room. A charming space, the room has exposed timber beams on the walls and overhead.
There is a large, formal reception room adjacent the kitchen. Triple aspect, there are windows to the front and rear, and a patio door leading to a terrace overlooking the formal lawns. The . The room retains an original fire surround (with recently integrated wood burning stove), and a number of original arched alcoves are perfect for reading a book, or displaying art.
At the rear of the house, and accessed via a separate boot room with its own entrance, is a large reception room. Thought to sit in the oldest part of the building, the space has wonderful exposed beams and a large, open fireplace. There is a separate WC and smaller family, or garden room, which overlooks the formal lawns.
Ascending to the first floor, there is an expansive, dual aspect primary bedroom overlooking the quiet, front garden. Adjacent is a smaller secondary bedroom, or nursery, and both are set with the bowed, sash windows that define the main façade of the house. There are a further three bedrooms on this floor (two with en suite) and two large, family bathrooms with two baths and shower.
On the second floor, and accessed via separate staircases, are the eaves rooms. Formerly the servants quarters, the bedrooms and attic rooms overlook the quiet gardens.
The Great Outdoors
Externally, the gardens are separated into four, distinct areas; the topiary garden, a rose garden, formal lawn and separate paddock. The more formal, front garden, is home to decades old hedging, which has been clipped into marvellous architectural forms; this architectural, green area is punctuated with tulips and wildflowers along the main path leading to the house.
To the rear, and overlooked by the kitchen and rear reception room, is the rose garden; laid out around an ornamental pond, with decorative paving, the garden has been lain in a circular form, and is host to an array of rambling roses, climbing roses and well-established English roses. To the side of the house is the expansive lawn; originally a croquet lawn, the space is bordered by established privacy hedging alongside the original wall, and has several mature willow and specimen trees.
Abutting the garden is a gravelled drive, which leads to a double garage. The space has been bordered by wooden estate fencing, and has been recently gravelled. From here, one can access the private paddock; spanning over an acre, the space is perfect for equestrian use.
Out and About
The village of Yalding has a number of eateries and useful amenities. There is a library, doctors surgery, convenience store and several annual events, including a
Yuletide Market and yearly
Gratitude festival. Prince Charles opened the wonderful
Yalding Organic Gardens and there is a bi-weekly farmers market. For the food-inclined,
the Boathouse Pub,
Walnut Tree and
Tickled Trout (owned by the Hush Heath Estate) all date back to the 17th-century, whilst the
Woolpack Inn dates from the 15th-century. Yalding’s Cricket Club is still active, with their first recorded game in 1798.
The area is perfect for rambling or walks with four legged friends, with the Yalding Fen and Yalding Lees on the doorstep of the house and river walks along the Beult and Tieise. The Greensand Way runs through the village on its way from Haslemere, in Surrey, to Hamstreet in Kent. There is also a nearby Waitrose in Paddock Wood.
There is an exceptional array of schooling in the area, with Yalding Primary School, Dulwich College Prep and Sevenoaks Prep catering for juniors. Local secondary schooling (both public and private) is notable throughout Kent, and includes Judd, Tunbridge Wells Grammar, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Kings Rochester.
Yalding Station is a 3-minute drive, or short walk from the house, and runs regular services to Waterloo in under an hour. The area has quick and easy access to the M25 and M20, and the Channel Tunnel is a 45-minute drive, with easy access to France via car.
Council Tax Band: H
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